ROSES & RASPBERRIES

A ‘friend to the needy’ bouquet

A bouquet of roses goes to the friends and family of Kay Parker, the head of the Oceanside Housing Commission, who died last week. Parker was a tireless champion for fair and equal housing for the elderly, families of modest means, and those with HIV and AIDS. Her first triumph for the community was the construction in 1997 of Marisol Apartments, a 22-unit complex for those with HIV and AIDS that wasn’t built until Parker and other advocates worked relentlessly to overcome community concerns. More recently, she has pushed for the $81.3 million Mission Cove project, which would build 288 subsidized apartments and condominiums for veterans, the elderly and people with special needs. Oceanside has lost a true friend.

A ‘pounding the pavement’ rose

A rose goes to City Service Paving, a Laguna Hills company that repaired, resurfaced and re-striped the running track at Chaparral Elementary School in Poway – for free. The running track was closed and condemned this spring by the Poway Unified School District, which made national headlines this year after it borrowed $105 million for capital projects using a financing gimmick that will cost taxpayers $1 billion over 40 years. Boosters of Chaparral’s Fitness Club, which allows 700 to 800 children to run on the track at lunchtime to stay healthy, issued a public plea for help. On behalf of the children, City Service answered the call, to its everlasting credit.

A ‘terrible lesson plan’ raspberry

A gentle raspberry goes to Mt. Carmel High School in Rancho Peñasquitos, where a teacher required students in his journalism class to earn a portion of their grades by raising cash for the school newspaper – by selling advertisements and subscriptions. The teacher, Tim Calver, said he was just trying to motivate students to support the campus paper. The principal, Dawn Kastner, said that programs forcing students to raise funds for their public school were not allowed at her school. Yet students didn’t get the message, so it appears Kastner was less than clear with her condemnation of the practice before U-T Watchdog Reporter Morgan Cook called. Forcing public-school students to pay for their educational activities is illegal in California, although some schools have been very creative in skirting the prohibition amid budget cuts. Perhaps more troubling is that this teacher and principal still appear to think it’s OK for journalists to sell advertising and subscriptions, a concept that any respectable media organization in the U.S. would find troubling, because of the potential for big customers to receive favorable news coverage.